WASHINGTON, DC, 14 January 2013 — The workshop, “Religious Responses to Violence in Latin America,” opened Monday at the Founders Room of American University’s (AU) School of International Service. The two-day event is hosted by AU’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), headed by director Eric Hershberg.
The workshop brings together some of the foremost experts of the hemisphere on the issue of religion and violence. I participated in the event because I had conducted an 11-day video assignment on gangs and the evangelical church in Guatemala. I documented the work of Robert Brenneman, of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. Brenneman is the author of, “Homies + Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America.” He traveled to Guatemala this month to follow up on interviews with former gang members.